How long does it take osteoarthritis to develop? Does the course of the disease always require a joint replacement surgery?

Osteoarthritis is a multi-factorial disease. It can be triggered and influenced by many factors. The rate of the disease progression is very individual. While in some patients osteoarthritis can progress almost imperceptibly, without complications and even without pains, it takes others just a few years to progress from the emergence of the first symptom to the prosthetics surgery.

The overarching goal of orthopedics is, no doubt, the development of non-surgical treatment techniques; however, despite certain achievements in this area, widespread implementation of new methods in the near future is unlikely. Joint replacement remains the main method of treatment in the late stages, but modern medicine is capable of maximum slowing down the pathology progression. For example, it is possible thanks to the application of modern synovial fluid implants, which are capable to provide effective protection of the joint.